Paper cutter



Deg. 2, 1952 sc 2,619,723

PAPER CUTTER Filed March 7', 1951 2 SHEETSSHEET 1 FIG.I FIG. 2

ATTORNEYS Dec. 2, 1952 R RAUSCH 2,619,723

PAPER CUTTER Filed March '7, 1951 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 ATTORNEYS PatentedDec. 2 195 2 I Fla-BER CUTTER Roswell m ,Rausch, Plainfield,.N. .1.v

Applieatitn mam; 1951; serial Nazism-5 V This invention relates to aninexpensive paper cutter'capableof cutting papers of widelyva'ryiiigWeights andsizes and in any'direction':

Paper in its various; forms, such as waxed paper, freezer paper; shelfpap'er, wrapping paper; tissue papers, etc., as-well as metallicfoils,vis used in stores and'homes for a great'variety of pur poses.Among these are the wrapping of sand wiches for lunches (usually withwaxed paper) and the wrapping of various kindsof foods going into theordinary refrigerator. There is also spe-' cial freezer paper used inwrapping foods of widely difierent sizes going into the deep freeze; andthen there are the decorative papers-- printed or embossedtissue's andfoils'for gift wrapping, and ordinary wrapping'p'apfle'r' for outsidewrapping for shipping.

These wrapping media come-in packages in various forms: waxed paper andfreezer p'aper for the most part as continuous rolls in boxes on whichcutters have been attachedalong one edge so that the desired length-maybe cut off;

and gift wrapping paper insheets,. forthe most part packaged incellophane, but also coming in continuous rolls wrapped incellophanes'o' that the design of the decorated paper will show through.

The package mentioned above with themetal cutter along one-edge whenused'forwaxedpaper in the home is usually abut=12 inches wide andprovides a means of getting any desired length of paper, and where, asin this case, most of the things can be wrapped'satisfactorily ina paperof constant width, this provides a satisfactory package; However, papersused for the deep freeze or for wrapping gift packages usually come inwidths of from-20 to 30 inches in order to take care of the widevariation in the'sizeof the packages to be wrapped. Now, while a box?with a metal cutter enables the user tortear off fromlaroll'any lengthof paper desired; itdoesn'ot provide ameans of cutting the paper to adesired width. Freezer paper, for example, used for wrapping foods-goinginto thedeep'freeze often comes in a large box" 20 inches wide and witharch of paper some 4 or 5-inches iri'diameter. Packages of this sizemust obviously rest. on a table and while the desired length maybe tornon on themetal cutter attached to the edge of the box, some other meansmustbe provided to cutthepaper to the-desired width; In the case of giftwrapping. paper-the purchaser desires a-papera't'least 20' inches wide,but often only wants a limited amount of paper of any one design: Thissmall amount-of paper would necessitate-archsmall' 5*Glaiins. (Cl.30--294) era11y flat cutter with a paper-receiving slot in diameter and,for contain it; This-box, small'in cross-section, and

20 to winches wide, would be awkward for the" consumer to use and wouldbe weakand flimsy inconstruction. 7

Whether the consumer'usesaseparate sheeto-r a length cut from acontinuous roll of paper; the package to be" wrapped is placed on the"paper and the paper out to the size required. With loose sheets there isbound to bee; good deal more wastage than with-continuous rolls. Todaythe average householder uses scissors'to'cut hiswrapping' paper to therequired" size in both directions;

either that or he wastes a good deal of "paper by' using a sheet largerthan necessary. And using more paper than required makes a poorlywrapped package. Moreover, cutting with scis'-'- sors-is a slowoperation-andthe user has first to find the scissors.

To cut any paper with a single blade the paper must be held to resistthe blade pressure; For this reason it is generally easier to cut aheavy paper with a single blade than alight or soft one. For example, aheavy wrapping paper can" be easily cut with a razor blade Whereas atissue paper cannot. Unless the paper is firmly held the looselybonded'fibres of a tissue paper will compress and mushroom out under theblade pressure and will not be cut, or only with difliculty. Because ofthis principle it is common practice to fold papers along the line ofthe desired cut and then, holding the overlapping sections, cutoutwardlyalong the crease. The paper, being held, is tensioned by thecutting instrument as it is being cut. It is not feasible, however, tocut a small section from'a large sheet'by folding successively alongintersecting lines.

The ideal cutter would'b'eone that would quickly' cut the paper, whether'heavy or'li'ght, ina'riy direction, along straight or curved lines-aridthat could be made'cheaply' enough to be furnishedwith each'packag'e ofpapersold-eand dis carded with the empty package; It is the object ofthepresent invention" to provide such a cutter.

In attaining this object Iftake advantage of -the fact that paper can becut'when it is under tension easier than when it is not, and furthermorethat paper canbe out along a fold easierthan in the flat-that even thintissues can" be cut with a knife if the knife bladeis inserted behind afold and pressed outwardly. Accordingly I have provided a cutter'whichbends a short'section'of the paper and holds it under tension as itapproaches thecutting blade. I. do this by providirigflagen:

economy, a small box'to ing a cutting blade angularly disposed acrossthe slot at its inner end or throat, one edge of the slot being offsetfrom the plane of the other edge. When the cutter is to be usedprimarily for cutting thin papers, I extend the offset edge which is notin the plane of the cutting blade below the other, gradually increasingthe underlap in the direction of the blade. Thus as the paper passesfrom the mouth of the slot to its throat it is given a reverse or 2fold, one of the acute angles of the Z being presented to the blade forcutting while the paper is held under tension.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated preferred embodiments ofmy invention in which Figure 1 is a plan view of a cutter designed togive the paper a Z fold shown with the edge of a sheet of paper to beout just entering the mouth of the slot;

Figure 2 is a bottom view of the cutter shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a section on an enlarged scale taken along line 33 of Figure1, but showing the condition of the paper to be cut;

Figure 4 is a section similar to Figure 3 taken along line 44 of Figure1, and

Figure 5 is a section similar to Figures 3 and 4 taken along line 55 ofFigure 1.

Figures 3, 4-. and 5 show the condition of the paper at the mouth of theslot, midway along the slot and at the cutting blade, respectively.

Figure 6 is a plan View, similar to Figure l, but showing a modifiedform of cutter which bends and tensions the paper before cutting, butdoes not fold it,

Figure 7 is a bottom view of the cutter shown 7 in Figure 6, and

Figure 8 is a section, on an enlarged scale, taken along line 88 ofFigure 6 and showing the condition of the paper just before it reachesthe blade.

The cutter l shown in these drawings, although generally flat is,nevertheless, provided with slightly curved surfaces, as clearly shownin Figures 3, 4 and 5. The body of the cutter may be made of a Widevariety of sheet materials, preferably flexible, such as metal, plastic,paper or fibre board, and preferably of a material so cheap that thecutter may be thrown away after the paper it is sold with has been usedup.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the cutter l is, in plan view, generallyU-shaped in configuration, the two arms of the U being separated by anarrow slot 2 flared at its outer end to form a mouth 3 and widened atits inner end to form a throat 4. The left-hand arm 5, as shown inFigure 1, is tapered so as to be more readily inserted under the edge ofthe paper to be cut, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. The outer end of theother arm 6 extends laterally and is bent upwardly to form a projection1 which may be seized between the thumb and forefinger and act as ahandle. Extendin diagonally from the inner edge of the arm 5 and acrossthe throat 4 is a cutting blade or knife 8, its cutting edge 9 facingoutwardly. This cutting blade is a thin wafer of steel of the sameweight and thickness as the ordinary safety razor blade. It is shownembedded within the material of the cutter.

Beginning at a point just within the mouth 3 of the slot, the inner edgeof the arm 6 extends laterally across the slot, continuing in a gentlecurve to ,underlap the opposite inner edge of the arm 5 to form arounded extension ID, as shown best in Figures 1 and 2. This extensionlll extends well beyond the cutting edge 9 of the blade 8.

The upper face of the arm 5 is curved gently downwardly toward the slot,as shown in Figure 3, and the upper face of the arm 6 is similarlycurved downwardly along the upper face of the extension I ll, as shownbest in Figure 5.

The cutter illustrated in these drawings is used as follows: The paper.to be out, which I have designated by the reference character H, isplaced fiat on a table or cutting board and the forward end of the arm 5inserted below it While the forward end of the arm 6 overlies it, thepaper entering the mouth of the slot, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. Thecondition of the paper II at this point is shown in Figure 3. Theoperator, grasping the projection 7 between his thumb and forefinger,now pulls the cutter toward the paper, or downward, as shown in Figuresland 2. As the paper passes into the slot 2 it is-given a reverse foldof increasing width. For example: when the cutter has reached the pointwith reference to the paper indicated by the line 4-4, the paper hadbeen folded into the condition shown in Figure 4. Further movement ofthe cutter causes the paper to be engaged by the extension l0 and givena 2 bend or fold, so that when it reaches the line E5 it is in thecondition shown in Figure 5. It is at this point that the paper firstencounters the cutting edge 9 of the blade 8. The paper, having beengiven a return fold at this point, further inward movement of the cutterbrings the blade into contact with the paper along the edge of the foldand within the fold. Meanwhile the paper has not only been folded butheld under tension between the opposing and overlapping edges of thearms of the cutter, as clearly shown in Figure 5. Further inwardmovement of the cutter slits the paper along the fold presented to it.

The paper is automatically folded and tensioned temporarily at the verypoint of application of the cutting edge of the blade so that theoperator need give no thought to the condition of his paper and needonly move the cutter forward. It is not necessary that he move thecutter in a straight line; he may follow any line, either one that hasbeen marked on the paper or one dictated by his fancy. He can cutstraight, or on curves, or around corners with equal facility and inthis way out a small section from a large sheet with the greatest ofease.

In the form of cutter shown in Figures 6, 7 and 8, the extension l0 hasbeen omitted and the arm 6' bent down so that its inner edge is offsetfrom the inner edge of arm 5' without underlapping it. Thus the paper ispresented to the knife under tension, but not folded. This form isparticularly adapted for the cutting of heavy papers.

The cutter of my invention is not only efficient for its intendedpurpose, but can be made so inexpensively that it can be furnished withevery package of paper and thrown away when the paper is gone. That isnot to say, however, that it is not capable of a longer, useful life.

I claim:

1. A paper cutter comprising a body having a slot for receiving andguiding the paper to be cut, a cutting blade at the inner end of theslot, one edge of the slot increasingly underlapping the other in thedirection of the blade so that the paper is folded about the first edgeas it is presented to the blade for cutting.

2. A paper cutter comprising a body having a slot for receiving andguiding the paper to be cut, a cutting blade at the inner end of theslot extending across the slot from one of its edges, the other edge ofthe slot increasingly underlapping the first edge in the direction ofthe blade so that the paper is folded about the first edge and heldunder tension as it is presented to the blade for cutting.

3. A paper cutter comprising a body having a slot for receiving andguiding the paper to be cut, a flared mouth at the outer end of theslot, an enlarged throat at its inner end, a cutting blade at the innerend of the slotextending diagonally from one of its edges across thethroat, the other edge of the slot increasingly underlapping the firstedge in the direction of the blade so that the paper is given a Z foldand held underv tension by the time it has reached the blade, the upperfold of the 2 being presented to the blade for cutting.

4. A paper cutter comprising a body of sheet material having a slot forreceiving paper to be cut, a cutting blade at the inner end of the slot,the body of sheet material adjacent the inner end of the slot and inadvance of the cutting blade being formed with the portion of the sheetdefining at least one side of the slot displaced laterally out of theplane of the sheet and out of the plane of the portion of the sheetdefining the other side of the slot, a portion of the cutting edge oi.the blade being located closely adjacent and extending outwardly andaway from a corner of one of the longitudinal edge portions of the bodydefining the slot about which corner the paper is caused to be bentduring a cutting operation, so that when a sheet of paper is drawnthrough the slot while maintained generally parallel with the plane ofsaid body of sheet material it will be tensioned by the edges of the'sheet defining the slot adjacent the cutting blade and the cutting ofthe paper will take place substantially along the line about which thepaper is bent around said corner.

5. A paper cutter comprising a generally fiat U-shaped sheet, the armsof the U being closely spaced to define a narrow, paper-guiding slothaving a flared mouth at its outer end and an enlarged throat at itsinner end, a cutting blade extending diagonally from one edge of theslot across the throat and an extension on the opposite edge extendingunder the edge carrying the blade so that as the paper entering the slotapproaches the blade it is given a reverse bend and held under tension.

ROSWELL H. RAUSCH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

